England recall Mike Tindall and Jonny Wilkinson for Romania game

England's Jonny Wilkinson, left and Mike Tindall have, along with Mark Cueto, been recalled to face Romania. Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP

England have confirmed their line-up for Saturday's Rugby World Cup Pool B match against a weakened Romania side, handing recalls to Mike Tindall, Jonny Wilkinson and Mark Cueto and reshuffling the forward pack which made desperately hard work of beating Georgia last weekend.

Tindall, whose wife Zara Phillips has arrived in New Zealand in the wake of last week's headlines concerning her husband and a female admirer in Queenstown, is back at inside centre alongside Wilkinson, who has been reinstated at fly-half ahead of Toby Flood. Cueto is finally ready to commence his World Cup campaign after recovering from a back complaint.

Leicester's Dan Cole keeps his place at tighthead – in what is effectively England's strongest team – alongside the recalled Steve Thompson, with Leicester's Tom Croft resuming in the back row. Chris Ashton is fit enough to start on the wing after hyper-extending his elbow against Georgia and Alex Corbisiero is named at loosehead prop after recovering from a strained calf.

Both coaches and players have demanded an improved performance at the Otago Stadium, having held a straight-talking squad meeting to debate the frustrating 41-10 win over Georgia. Their task has been eased by Romania's coach Romeo Gontineac, who is resting several players ahead of his side's final pool game against rivals Georgia next Wednesday.

Gontineac has retained just four of the team which lost 43-8 to Argentina last weekend, plus three positional switches. Only record cap holder Cristian Petre and back-rower Ovidiu Tonita, who switches to No8, are retained in the pack with Petre leading the side out. The squad's usual captain, the hooker Marius Tincu, has been selected on the bench.

In the backs, only Iulian Dumitras and Ionel Cazan keep their places but both switch positions to form a new centre partnership, having previously played at full-back and left wing respectively. "We trust this team," insisted Gontineac. "We trusted them before the World Cup so we trust them now as well. A lot of players have played 80 minutes, and we want everyone to enjoy the World Cup.

"We want these players to prove they are good enough to play even against England, one of the best teams in the world." Asked if he thought Romania would suffer a repeat of the 134-0 defeat they suffered the last time they faced England in 2001, Gontineac replied: "It would also be a risk to keep the same team. We have already played two games with almost the same players and the team against Argentina was not too happy with their performance. It's not going to be the same as 2001. England still have a very good team but the Romania team has changed a little bit."